Chapter 2 Summary

Mary Karr's mother, Charlie, was born in the Dust Bowl of West Texas. Only one tale of her mother's childhood endures in Mary's memory, and there is a photograph to go along with it. When Charlie was two years old, she got sick and nearly died of pneumonia. The doctor failed to bring her fever down after many attempts and finally resigned the case as hopeless. He predicted that Charlie would be gone by midnight. Mary's Grandma Moore decided they had better take a photograph of the child before she passed. There is an image of Charlie propped on the front porch in a red coat, staring straight at the camera with no smile. Of course, she went on to survive, which makes the story even more memorable.

Grandma Moore stayed on in West Texas, though Mary remembers visiting her house in Lubbock only once. The trip...